No. 1 Texas overcame a slow start to easily defeat No. 18 Oklahoma 34-3 in Quinn Ewers' first game since week three.
After the Longhorns failed to score in the first quarter, the game changed in the second quarter. UT took a 7-3 lead on a seven-yard TD pass from Ewers to Gunnar Helm and then scored 14 points in less than a minute for a three-point lead that Oklahoma's offense was unable to overcome.
WR Silas Bolden elected to play on Texas' second touchdown. Quintrevion Wisner tripped when he was tackled at the OU 5 yard line and the ball went into the end zone. Bolden, who was more than 10 yards behind Wisner at the time of the foul, ran to the end zone and recovered the ball, saving a TD.
Two games after Texas led 14-3, Oklahoma QB Michael Hawkins was picked off by Anthony Hill. Vernon Broughton recovered the fumble for the Longhorns, and Wisner scored his TD on the next play on a 43-yard run.
This score gave Texas a 21-3 lead and Oklahoma was hopeless. Hawkins is a true freshman who took over the team after the Sooners lost to Tennessee. The offensive line has been struggling with injuries, and Oklahoma entered the game without its top five wide receivers due to injuries.
Oklahoma needed chaos in the competition to have a chance to win. And Texas said that didn't happen.
Texas dominates the field
Ewers made his first start since finishing his third game of the season with abdominal tightness. And he looked like he hadn't played in a while on Texas' first few possessions. The Longhorns won the coin toss and elected to accept to give Ewers a chance right away. He ended up overthrowing the receiver on third down and the pass was intercepted by Billy Bowman Jr.
Texas converted its next two possessions before the offense got going. And when it did, Texas did most of its damage on the play, not in the air. The Longhorns rushed for 177 yards, while Wisner had 13 carries for 118 yards and five-star freshman Ryan Wingo chipped in with 25 yards.
Ewers finished the game 20 of 29 passing for 199 yards and a TD to Helm. He also added Texas' final TD of the game after winger Matthew Golden had his second shot off a pass from the winger. Golden passed a long pass to Helm just before Ewers' run, after missing to Wingo on a bad pass earlier in the game.
This is the second time in three seasons that Texas has blown away the Sooners after UT won 49-0 in 2022. It could have been worse for Oklahoma, too. Texas missed a field goal in the second half and failed on fourth down in the red zone.
Oklahoma has a tough road ahead
Can the Sooners have a winning season? That's a good question to ask after seeing OU struggle in both of the team's losses.
The Sooners are really banged up. And they're not bad teams. But the schedule is not in their favor either. Outside of a non-conference game against Maine in early November, there are no easy games on the Sooners' schedule.
Four of the five SEC teams remaining at OU are currently ranked in the AP Top 25 and the only unranked team is South Carolina, which pushed Alabama to the limit in a 27-25 loss in Tuscaloosa earlier Saturday. While Texas is ranked No. 1 and has a huge showdown with No. 5 Georgia next weekend, Oklahoma is simply looking to get healthy and gain some momentum on offense.
